Friday, March 28, 2014

Have you ever played with dominoes as a child? Can you recall witnessing a row or rows of dominoes placed upright in a linear pattern, and the result after one domino falls against or into another?

This is what is referred to as "the Domino Effect", where there is a series of similar or related events occurring as a direct and inevitable result of one initial event. Another term for this is a "Chain Reaction". Sir Isaac Newton stated in his Third Law of Motion, "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction".

Simply stated, everything we do, every moment of every day, has an irreversible effect upon our own lives as well as the lives of everyone in the world around us. Every action, every word, no matter how small or great that word or action may be perceived, is setting in motion what is to become a series of spiraling events that continue to radiate outward through our time/space continuum, just as a pebble dropped into a pond causes endless ripples moving away from the original action.

This is also known as "Cause and Effect", where one action or event produces a certain response to the action in the form of another event. Another way I like to sum up these descriptions is this:

"Every EFFECT will AFFECT".

That is to say, every word or action you do is an "effect", and the result of that word or action is causing an "affect", that is, it affects someone or something in some way, including yourself, either positively or negatively.

The conclusion is inescapable.

Every action will have consequences.

Action obviously includes words, either spoken or written.

Now, after considering these things,

ask yourself this question:

"Do I have a responsibility to others, to control my actions so that I do not affect others in a negative way?"

After you ponder that question, the next question is this:

"Am I a responsible person, or an irresponsible person?"

For the purpose of this exercise, please choose one or the other.

While there are likely varying shades of gray when it comes to responsibility, draw an imaginary line and put your overall decision on either one side or the other, either fully "YES", or fully "NO".

Be completely honest.

Now then...

One of the greatest gifts that each of us possess is the gift of free will,

or the ability to choose.

No one can make us do anything we do not choose to do ourselves.

Even under threat of death or violence, the choice remains our own.

You chose to eat that particular food, or to get out of the chair and walk into the next room, to open that door, to speak those words, to work at that job, to lie or tell the truth, to create or to destroy, to seek order or to seek anarchy, to offer help or to turn away, to accept or to reject, to smile or to frown, to laugh or to cry, to believe in God or to not ...the list is endless, as are our choices.